ULSTER SENIOR FOOTBALL CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP. Clontibret v Dromore: Clones: Sunday November 1st @ 2.30pm. One of Clontibret's driving forces and burning ambitions surrounding their great desire to win this year's Monaghan senior football championship was that it would afford them the opportunity of getting back on track to satisfying another burning ambition in the club and that is to lift an Ulster club championship title and thereby align themselves with the greats in the game. The best Clontibret have achieved in the provincial club series so far was to reach the final and on the last two occasions in 2006 and 2007 when they were Monaghan senior champions they came up against the club championship specialist Crossmaglen and were defeated narrowly on both occasions. This year, now back as senior champions in Monaghan they face Tyrone champions, Dromore in the quarter-final of the Ulster club championship in Clones on Sunday and a game that will test their mettle, their resolve and their reserves of courage and commitment to the full. Their prospects in the Ulster club championship though suffered a severe set back in the later stages of last Sunday's Monaghan senior league semi final with news that ace forward Conor McManus suffered a wrist injury. He was taken off some six minutes before the end of the game and brought immediately to hospital for X rays to assess the severity of the injury, the results of which showed that the wrist was broken, an injury that will rule him out for eight weeks. His absence severely dents Clontibret's prospects as he is their main score taker. He scored 1-9 in the Monaghan county final to bring his tally for the championship to the impressive level of 2-49 with 29 of those points coming form frees, underlining his value to the team, and he had helped himself to five points on Sunday last before the injury forced him to retire. The loss of Conor McManus is a huge blow to Clontibret's prospects but they are a club and a team with great reserves of courage and commitment and they will draw on all of those to compensate. They could also have to reckon without the services of John Paul Mone is doubtful with a recurrence of his knee problem and his absence would add further to the pressure they will experience against a Dromore team that was playing in their third successive Tyrone senior football championship final this year and they too have ambitions of greater things. Like Clontibret though their Tyrone senior football championship campaign was not without its anxious moments and particularly in the final when they needed a penalty four minutes into stoppage time to snatch victory over Ardboe. Dromore's game is based around the expected dominance of Barry Collins in midfield while up front the O'Neill's, Shaun and Sean along with Colm McCullagh will be looked to for the bulk of their scores. Indeed it was McCullagh's calm penalty conversion that clinched the Tyrone title to set up Sunday's encounter with Clontibret. Other names that stand out on the Dromore line out along with Colm McCullough and the O'Neills are of course Ciaran Donnelly, Ryan McManaman and Ronan McNabb all experienced inter county players. McMenamin plays a key role at centre back and will be the pivot for their counter attacking strategy. Dromore may have been a little fortunate to win the Tyrone senior football championship but now that they have moved onto the bigger stage they are going to be difficult to handle. Up-front McCullough is certainly the danger man but they have a range and variety to their game that will require the Clontibret defence to be on their mettle right from the start and particularly in being able to contain the tactic of where their halfbacks are continually driving forward. Clontibret for their part will rely on the tried and trusted although one of their most reliable and trusted will be missing but they will seek to turn that into a motivating factor because as a club they have great spirit, great commitment and togetherness and those qualities will help them compensate for the absence of Conor McManus. The absence of their prolific scorer taker could well see a call-up for Noel Morgan who did his chances no harm at all on Sunday last when he scored two excellent points, one from a free in the senior football league semi-final. Team manager Declan Brennan has options in how he deploys his troops but their central strength will be a key element with Eoin Greenan at full-back, Dessie Mone at centre, Vincent Corey in midfield and Paul McGuigan on the '40. Clontibret complete a strong central diamond with the likes of Darach Mooney, Anthony Rooney and Rodney Gorman supplementing their efforts in that central area and this year too they have the ever improving John Golden to use in a number of roles either in midfield or further up in attack. All in all it promises to be a fascinating contest where perhaps like the Tyrone senior championship final a late score might sort it out but extra time may well be the order of the day in a game between two very evenly matched sides. The winners play either Antrim champions, St. Galls or Armagh champions, Pearse Og, in the semi final. Tweet

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